Lecture 4/16

04.16.09 Africa No rising economic dynamo in Africa, kind of like India Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa have the potential to rise What would that take to get some dynamos? Friedman: End of War and Stable good government Sachs: Everybody's first foot on the ladder so they can take care of themselves They make great efforts of moving up (illegal immigration) Fastest way to move up in the world is to (literally) move up to a better country Large immigration makes angst with the new country Africa is wide open for accepting foreign investment, but this is all a post-third world debt crisis Before 1982 SAfrica looks toward Soviet System Africa is full of backlash coalitions, which makes it difficult for Afircan countries to make decisions for African people Comes out of their history ? slavery, colonialism, IMF's conditionality, It's far worse not to be exploited than to not be exploited (have some one to plug into) After colonization, Africans do build on this infrastructure, but can't do much, so they flee from Africa And so Africa needed Good Governments IMF set down conditions However they can't follow through on their threats, so they can be bullied into surrendering And so how do you get out of poverty? Sachs' Poverty Trap If you can't afford to buy coal or oil, you start cutting down trees Globalization ? world market at the present Must it hurt the poor? Yes and No Yes ? ever since the speeding up of change (1400s), speed has been intensifying and the gap has grown between those who are jumping on and those that are going under water Being poor is not necessary to moving up ? cheap labor is an advantage, esp. to exporting goods So why don't we send companies to the Congo and instead to China (much cheaper in Congo) Transportation, War, etc. Need to add up all factors in addition to lowest wages Off-shoring to India as well But how do you turn this into an advantage? American ODA (Overseas Direct Aid)to the poorest of the poor is minimal ? most of it is given to Israel, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq Ethiopian Famine, gets coverage by CNN 1985, brought it back home in real time in color New consciousness about poverty... Live Aid concerts, Bob Geldof, Bono, Product Red US citizens largest donators by far, followed by Spanish Citizens Democratization of International Relations ? the power of getting things done has moved from state to society Agricultural Trade ? protected in OECD nations, negotiations in DOHA round to end these protections Except for Mali, whose cotton is hurt by US cotton, it would be hard to find anything that will change if we end the agricultural protections ? will go to most efficient producers Move from Corn to Coffee Is the carving up of Africa really the end-all? Also true that if you're land locked and arid, it's very different, which is most of sub-Saharan Africa, and also have the Congo, which is E/W, not N/S Mentality in much of Sub-Saharan Africa has changed ? Eco-tourism and such China has come in with huge amounts of investment, which has led to commodity price rises, and competition But also don't have conditionality, don't join good government organizations (energy transparency regime) African monarchies have been pushed back from the coasts, have been disarticulated, then pushed aside, then frozen in place by colonialism State is the economy and you rip off the rest of society to keep the state going What's the solution? Need to care about disease and health Places are beginning to do better But how do you bring the peace